Thermoplastic active fiber composites for structural actuation

The integration of piezoelectric actuators into a structure can lead to an active structural surface that can adapt by bending or straining to different operational conditions. This can be used to tune desired properties of the active system to their optimal levels. Due to their fast response time, high bandwidth, and the level of force that the actuator can apply, it has been proposed that monolithic piezoelectric materials be used for active structural control. Monolithic piezoelectric materials for planar actuation have several drawbacks including: (a) use of the lower 3-1 actuation for planar actuation, (b) low strain before failure, (c) inability to conform to curved surfaces. Active Fiber Composites (AFCs) have been developed to address some of these shortcomings of monolithic piezoceramic materials. AFCs are thin composite plies comprised of unidirectional piezoelectric fibers imbedded in a thermoset matrix. An electric field is supplied to the fibers by use of an interdigitated electrode pattern adhered to either side of the AFC. The benefits of AFCs include: the interdigital electrode design uses 3-3 actuation offering increased levels of actuation, AFCs allows for anisotropic planar actuation, the AFCs matrix provides load transfer and load distribution, AFCs allows for coverage of curved shapes. A major drawback of the AFCs with PZT-5A fibers is that the level of actuation is 60% lower than that of the 3-3 actuation of monolithic PZT-5A. This is due primarily to a small layer of low dielectric matrix material that is trapped between the electrodes and the high dielectric fibers during manufacturing.

Department dc:contributor.department

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Aeronautics and Astronautics.

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2002

Author dc:creator

• Dunn, Christopher Thomas, 1971-

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Nesbitt W. Hagood, IV.

• Aeronautics and Astronautics.

Statement dc:rights

• M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/16851
• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Identifier URI

http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/16851

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/16851